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Asian Elephant
The Asian or Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus) is the only living species of the genus Elephas and distributed in Southeast Asia from India in the west to Borneo in the east. Three subspecies are recognized — Elephas maximus maximus from Sri Lanka, the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_elephant Indian elephant or E. m. indicus] from mainland Asia, and E. m. sumatranus from the island of Sumatra. Asian elephants are the largest living land animals in Asia. Since 1986, Elephas maximus has been listed as endangered by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be 60–75 years. The species is pre-eminently threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation. In 2003, the wild population was estimated at between 41,410 and 52,345 individuals. Asian elephants are rather long-lived, with a maximum recorded life span of 86 years. Contrary to popular belief, the Asian elephant has never been domesticated, in the sense that it has never been bred over multiple generations with selected traits specifically to serve human needs. This term is often conflated with taming or training, a process by which a wild-caught animal may be induced to accept human commands. Trained captive elephants have nevertheless been used in forestry in South and Southeast Asia for centuries and also for ceremonial purposes. Historical sources indicate that they were used during harvest seasons primarily for milling. Wild elephants attract tourist money to the areas where they can most readily be seen, but damage crops, and may enter villages to raid gardens. Adult females and calves may move about together as groups but adult males disperse from their mothers upon reaching adolescence. Bull elephants may be solitary or form temporary 'bachelor groups'. Cow-calf unit sizes generally tend to be small, typically consisting of 3 adult females who are most likely related, and their offspring; however, larger groups containing as many as 15 adult females may occur. There can also be seasonal aggregations containing over 100 individuals at a time, including calves and sub-adults. Until recently it was thought that Asian elephants, like African elephants, typically follow the leadership of older adult females, or matriarchs. But recently it has been shown that females can form extensive and very fluid social networks, with a lot of individual variation in the degree of gregariousness. Social ties generally tend to be weaker than in African elephants. Elephants are crepuscular. They are megaherbivores and consume up to 150 kg (330 lb) of plant matter per day. They are generalist feeders, and both grazers and browsers, and were recorded to feed on 112 different plant species, most commonly of the order Malvales, and the legume, palm, sedge and true grass families.They browse more in the dry season with bark constituting a major part of their diet in the cool part of that season. They drink at least once a day and are never far from a permanent source of fresh water.They need 80–200 litres of water a day and use even more for bathing. At times they scrape the soil for clay or minerals. Elephants are able to distinguish low amplitude sounds. They use infrasound to communicate; this was first noted by the Indian naturalist M. Krishnan and later studied by Katharine Payne. A healthy adult Asian elephant is not known to have natural predators, but there have been rare instances of tigers preying on young or weak elephants. Category:Animals Category:Asian Animals Category:Herbivores Category:Vertebrates Category:Mammals Category:Grassland animals Category:Forest animals Category:CArtoon heroes unite good vs heart of evil villains Category:CArtoon heroes unite good vs heat of evil villains animals